PAULYN Marrinan probably didn’t realise at the time but when the nun smacked her outstretched hand as a punishment for being late for assembly, a sense of injustice became a lifelong passion and a dedication to the law,
“No-one asked me why I was late. In fact it was because of a hold-up on the way to school. I was one of a number of pupils who were punished and none of us had the right of reply. I thought that was very unfair.”
We swop stories about the trials of growing up, making our case in the hope that someone listened. The conversation swung from one topic to another, all law related, and that’s the way it is in her book, What Does Law Mean MuMu?
With no high-faluting high court language, this book is aimed at young people, although it will be of interest to everyone. Apart from a couple of brushes with the courts, I know nothing – or at least I did know nothing until I read this book. The language is easy, the terms explained, the background to our laws told in stories that live on in the visual memory.
Paulyn, who was born in Belfast and comes from a generation of highly respected lawyers and judges, is herself a senior counsel and was Ireland’s first insurance ombudsman and the founding ombudsman for the Defence Forces Ireland and that’s not even the half of an outstanding career.
Now living in Dublin, with her wide experience in all things legal, she was considering writing a textbook for young adults.
“But it would sit on the bookshop shelf and only be of interest to those wanting to follow a career in law, so I thought, why not more of a story book? And the idea caught on. When I was going through possible chapter headings I asked my granddaughter who was just nine at the time to tell me what she thought. She did more than that, she took a pen and wrote another heading: ‘What about baddy policemen?’ Because of her interest I knew I was on the right track!”
And so the book began to take shape. Known to her four grandchildren as MuMu, Paulyn took a ‘walk and talk’ tour with them, stopping at various places of interest to discuss how law impacts on everyday life. And using a clever device she introduces a French pen friend who compares how the law works in France and how it differs from the Republic and the UK.
:: Theatres of justice
One tour was to the courts, ‘theatres of justice’, divided into layers. She explains: “There are district courts in local areas and the circuit courts in main towns and cities where cases up to a certain monetary limit are heard. And then there are the high courts, the court of appeal and ultimately the supreme court which is over all of these courts.”
And so opens the adventure into Lady Justice, wigs and gowns and women and the law, the story of May Donoghue who was enjoying an ice cream and ginger beer in a cafe in Scotland.
“Her friend poured the remainder of the ginger beer from the dark-coloured bottle into the tumbler and as she did out came a dead snail.”
This was the start of Ms Donoghue pursuing a claim through the courts but it was seven years before she was successful. It was complicated and as a result a new law was made, known as the Snail in the Bottle Case.
In 1919 the law changed to allow women to be come barristers. Fay Kyle made history, becoming the first woman to be called to the Bar in the United Kingdom, of which Ireland was then legally a part.
The young people discussed many topics with their granny – poor-quality housing, young offenders, the corn laws, the Famine, the misuse of social media, even the poetry of Yeats. In one emotional conversation MuMu tells them of Harry Patch the last surviving British soldier of the First World War who died in a care home in Somerset in July 2009 aged 111.
He was wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele and lost so many friends, some of the 3,000 soldiers lost every day. The war was, he said, a licence to murder and he lived with the memory every day and became highly respected as an anti-war hero. It was an introduction to a discussion of suffering all over the world, war, oppression, terrorism and injustice.
:: Wonderful granny
What a wonderful granny to have and what a great book she has written for all young people to learn in an easy and entertaining way. There are deep thoughts – bullying, for instance – and there’s the useful meaning of words heard in court reporting: 'loco parentis', where someone stands in the place of a parent or guardian, 'non compos mentis', meaning not of sound mind, and, most important, 'ignorantia juris non excusat' – ignorance of the law excuses not.
MuMu and The Learners as she calls her little troop of young people, pass on some invaluable basics when it comes to the law, just as Paulyn herself learned a basic lesson when Mrs Davis, a ‘significant’ teacher, explained to her six-year-old pupil that you must never be afraid to admit that you don’t understand something, always ask for an explanation because the worst thing you can do, whether out of shyness or embarrassment, is pretend that you’ve understood.
The Learners have learned that lesson well. I don’t think they will ever be afraid to ask why: Why are people kept in prisons? Who is in charge of the police? Where do the rules come from? What happens if the government fails to run the country properly? What is mediation? You’ll find the answers in this book.
:: What Does Law Mean MuMu? by Paulyn Marrinan is published by Porteo Marketing, priced £9, and can be purchased online. An audio version is available – key 'What Does Law Mean MuMu podcast' into your search engine.
